Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
Peaceful Protests - CRM 1963 - Coggle Diagram
Peaceful Protests - CRM 1963
Freedom Summer
Most volunteers where white college students - some taught in Freedom Schools for black children and others held classes to teach locals how to pass the voter registration tests.
White opposition caused themselves and Black Mississipians to become in danger. Many whites called the project an invasion they burned 61 crosses, burned 37 black churches and 30 homes.
In 1964, the SNCC and CORE set up 'Freedom Summer' in Mississippi. About 1,000 volunteers went to work with local campaigners on projects in the black community
About 17,000 black people tried to register to vote that summer, only 1,600 succeeded.
About 700,000 black Americans in the South registered to vote.
Mississippi murders started as 1 white CORE field worker and 1 volunteer and 1 black CORE worker were arrested when driving. They were released that evening, only to be murdered on their way home.
The right to vote only helped black Americans if they were registered to vote and not prevented from voting.
Birmingham, Alabama
On the 2nd April 1963, SNCC, SCLC and ACMHR began the Campaign C (confrontation) to end the segregation in Birmingham
Most of the adults that protested were in jail and so young people where trained by the SNCC to demonstrate. And on 2nd May, about 6,000 people from all ages marched and over 900 of them were arrested.
They targeted Birmingham because black Americans had been attacked there, including regular bombing of black churches, homes and businesses.
The next day, more young people marched and the jails were so full that Bull Connor ordered the police to use dogs and fire hoses on the protesters.
The news reports and photos of this event caused huge horror and President Kennedy said it make him feel sick and ashamed.
Campaign C included sit-ins, mass meetings, peaceful protest marches and boycotting of shops. Hundreds of people took part and hundreds were arrested, including Martin Luther King and Fred Shuttlesworth.
The March, Washington
Washington DC was chosen as the location because the White House and Congress were there. Over 250,000 people, about 40,000 of them white, took part.
It was the largest political gathering in US history. Despite fears, the protest would turn violent, it was peaceful and good-humoured. It was broadcasted live on TV around the world.
Almost immediately after Birmingham, civil rights leaders planned a protest march involving people from all over the USA.
It began with the National Anthem and prayer, then civil rights activists made speeches. The king spoke last and his speech confirmed him, as the spokesman for the CRM.
Selma
In Selma, people protested against the vote registration tests. Johnson spoke in favour of voter registration, which caused the number of protesters and violence to increase.
On Sunday 7, about 600 protesters set out to march from Selma to Montgomery. State troopers stopped them at Edmund Pettus Bridge - and they fled from tear gas, clubs and electric cattle prods.
Local groups invited the SCLC and King to campaign in Selma. They arrived in January 1965, at the same time as President Johnson wanted the Voter Rights Act.
Many spoke against the violence and all over the country, people marched in support of those attacked.
Selma was in Dallas County, where more black people were entitled to vote than white people.
Marchers from Selma to Montgomery where escorted and the King led the march. The assassination of Kennedy and the growing protests led to a greater awareness of the issue of civil rights in the USA.
In the spring of 1965, the SNCC were still working for vote registration, but white officials had many methods of stopping black people from registering.